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White House hosts unique Arab-Israeli meeting on Gaza

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Senior representatives from Israel and Arab states with which it has no diplomatic relations met at the White House yesterday to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Also in attendance were representatives from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Sweden. Israel was represented by Major-General Yoav Mordechai, head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt and Jordan also took part.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) decided not to attend the meeting as part of their boycott of the US administration after President Donald Trump’s Jerusalem announcement last December.

Jared Kushner presented US ideas for projects in Gaza including health, sewage, electricity and water projects. US officials said all the participants agreed that the humanitarian and economic crisis in Gaza requires immediate action from the international community. “Fixing Gaza is critical for any future peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians,” they said. “It was refreshing to see the Arab and Israeli representatives at the same table. It was a good sign as we remain hard at work putting the finishing touches on our peace plan. We encouraged all parties to leave politics at the door and talk about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and they did it.”

The officials said that the Trump administration’s goal is “to alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza,” adding that the challenge will now be to raise money for the projects at the meeting of donor countries to the Palestinians in Brussels at the end of March. “We want to keep Israel’s and Egypt’s security and not empower Hamas. We hope the Palestinian Authority will remain a partner in this effort. We want them as a partner and we want them back in full control of Gaza,” they said.

The officials added that “if the PA is unwilling to, or unable to, implement the projects, then we would have to proceed without them”.

According to one US official, there was regret that the PA “was not in the room” and “a great deal of time was spent discussing Hamas’s failures in Gaza and the need for the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza”.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said the meeting was productive and Israel was ‘“encouraged to see many of our neighbours in attendance. We hope that their participation will lead to progress towards greater regional stability and peace with the Palestinians.”